1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to planning systems and, more particularly, to a novel manager/organizer and journal apparatus and method wherein various subject headings are segregated by a separate index and a novel weekly manager/organizer sheet is configured to be selectively insertable into the daily journal portion of the manager/organizer and journal. Each index page includes a miniaturized reprint of the sheet designated by that particular index heading along with an instructional guide for using the sheet.
2. The Prior Art
The recent past has witnessed the proliferation of various devices and daily planner systems for planning daily activities, scheduling appointments, setting goals, etc., as well as providing a vehicle for the user to make regular entries into a daily journal. A daily journal is also a useful tool to encourage a person to be more observant and retrospective. Generally, the conventional daily planner system involves a special loose-leaf binder into which preprinted pages are inserted. The pages are based on a daily system in which one or both facing pages of the opened planner display the same date. For example, one system is configured as a two-page per day system with the left-hand page carrying topics such as Appointments and Scheduled Events, To Be Done Today, and an Expense and Reimbursement Record, while the right-hand page has the heading of Diary and Work Record. Another popular planner devotes the left-hand page to a miniature calendar for the month along with the topics of Prioritized Daily Task List, Daily Expenses, and Appointment Schedule while the right-hand page is designated with the topic of Daily Record of Events. Other planner systems follow this same general trend of incorporating a daily journal as part of the daily planning page.
These prior art systems are faulty for a number of reasons primary among which is the fact that one rarely fills an entire page on the right-hand or diary page. Also, in the event there is more to record than space provided, there is no further space in which to make such a record for that day. Further, in the event it is necessary to reschedule a low priority item, the user must reenter the item on the next succeeding page or pages. Aside from these minor frustrations, perhaps one of the more cumbersome aspects of the various current, daily planner systems is that if an assignment is received or a delegation made and such an entry is made in the customary diary or journal page (right-hand), the user must scan a number of these pages in order to retrieve the particular assignment/delegation of interest. This means that there is a high probability that an assignment/delegation will be inadvertently overlooked.
I have also found that there is a tendency to commingle journal entries with assignments, delegations, appointments, and the like with the result that unless one carefully extracts these assignments, etc., from the daily journal on a regular basis, such assignments, etc., can easily become overlooked and thereby forgotten. This event can easily discourage the user from using and consulting the planner on a regular basis. Further, in order to effectively utilize the planner the user must abstract each day's entries and re-enter relevant notations on the next succeeding day or days of the binder. This is cumbersome and can result in the user abandoning the planner system in its entirety.
In view of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a planning system wherein both sides of a single page contain the daily schedule of tasks and appointments along with an agenda for an entire week at a time. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide this weekly page as an easily insertable and removable page that can be turned to place the opposite face outward and also inserted between succeeding pages of the diary or journal portion of the planner without opening the rings of the binder. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide the planner with a separate index for topics such as Assignment, Delegation, Forms, Goals, Periodic, References, and Subtasks whereby specific items are entered for ease of access. It would be an even further advancement in the art to provide each index page with a miniaturized reprint of the specific page covered by that index heading along with a detailed description on how to use the pages designated by that particular index page. Such a novel apparatus and method is disclosed and claimed herein.